Mowbray's reign was needed at the time but quickly become totally stagnant and a comfortable and easy ride for all involved, coupled with some of the worst contract negotiations we've seen, which we are now bearing the full repercussions of. I would pay good money to find out what was said at half time in that home game against Derby when he started with Johnson up front. Please, if there is a god, I want JDT in charge with Bowyer's squad (with a better defence) and John Williams sat in the expensive seats please.

100%, which is an attitude that only bleeds down from the top, happens everywhere in business. And why teams with small budgets too like Luton, and Brighton etc are in the Prem and we're not.

Absolutely, no one should jump on the reasons for secrecy just yet, it's obvious it's about JDT and the McGuire deal. Did they have to sign an NDA though?

I totally agree, body language is massive, it's why struggling teams start "doing a huddle" before kick-off - it's a two-way street with players and fans. Football is about hope, we've come from behind once to win in 2 seasons under JDT, I can't remember the similar stat during Mowbray's reign off the top of my head, we have little hope in the bank, the fans know what to expect and it's that grinding inevitably that stops us getting off our seats, we know what's going to happen. Yet, the paradox is, this team has real elements that I love, some of the moments we've experienced have been the best in years (and some of the worst), and that's what is messing with everyone's heads.

Of all the downward spirals we've seen at Ewood, the fans reaction to the players has been really kind - like you said no chanting at them at all. The fans have been patient, mainly because as a group we're confused at who we're most pissed off about. If anything, due to the malaise we're in, apathy rules and we don't en-masse sing as many songs about JDT or the players as we probably should, it just hasn't got going like that, it's just flat, and we get the Vincent Kompany song a million times as it's just easier to do...

I know you shouldn't look at internet comments, but one of the worst things about our current predicament is how many are happy to see us in this mess. I wouldn't wish this situation on any club, not ever our dear neighbours down the road. I wish football wasn't a playground for corruption. No football fanbase should have to endure this, and the fact that it's been reported that 2/3 of the EFL could become insolvent in the near future should be something that all fans are wary of.

I agree with this, but he has a duty to protect the playing staff from all this shit, how many managers down the years have done this? It's more unusual for a manager to be so candid, and it never ends well. You can hint, but you have to present a united front in the dressing room to try and drag the team up the table. He's obviously fallen out with some of the bigger characters in the squad, and recently has just plain given up on the job and started spouting whatever he wants. I feel aggrieved for him, his family, but as one of the lads on the latest Roverschat podcast said; what was he trying to achieve with his post match presser? - Edit: seeing other posts on the Jan Transfer Thread, if he's been sacked by one brother, and reinstated by someone else moments later, told McGuire was here then not, then it does go some way to explaining it 😂 Madness.

Couldn't agree more actually, I think you may have a point, like I said in my post, we've seen evidence of this before, it makes total sense. We're basically at the mercy of a family feud.

I just don't think they will, they'll rightly stick to procedure - in a post Tevez world no one can be seen to providing any club with preferential treatment. As many have said, if McGuire scores the goal that keeps us up and sends Wednesday down, can you imagine? I do feel likes there's something else, I bet errors with transfers are more common than we think across the board they just get sorted out of the public eye through proper process, that's why there's got to be more to it than this story "they clicked save instead of send". The fact that we've had 3 in a year, lightning doesn't strike thrice. For me, there's obvious infighting at the top in the Venky's hierachy and Sunhail is either stuck in the middle of it as the rep over here, or more aligned with one Venky than the other, so will scupper decisions to side with his chosen one. I bet one Venky signed it off, wanted a marquee US signing, and another Venky pulled the plug overall, causing the indecision and chaos. Coupled with disgruntled staff who are either a) amateur or more likely b) pissed off and worried about their own jobs; do the math. It's Occam's Razor, there's previous evidence of infighting and disagreement causing bungled decisions.

Any other club with foreign owners, they buy a player from the US and see it as a way of expanding their brand globally, using it to their advantage. Wasn't that the Venky's initial plan? Not this lot, we do the complete actual opposite 😂 It just proves there's something completely messed up at the core of their ownership, "no shit Sherlock" I hear you say. I see Sheff Utd are now offering free shipping to SA/Chile, can you imagine our lot doing anything like this? If you want to win an argument with a pro-Venkyite, it's a flippant and throwaway place to start, but something you can't really deny. It's real indicator of the lack of care and imagination from those in power at Ewood.

According to Nixon on Radio Lancs the figures are inflated, it's nowhere near that. I thought the same too, but it appears the fees are unknown.

Live footage of the poor admin posting that statement

i think you've nailed it 👏

I'm sorry I do not get the stick for GB, there's loads of comments online about him - it's all about those above him. He came out in the press last year as he's the only person who could do it, and it's his job, I think SW could have done it, but he's just a shitehawk. I think both deals have been scuppered by others, not GB. It's just plain sad. There's two things I'm confused about: 1) Why has JDT gone from "ask gregg" to suddenly "ask steve and sunhail"? 2) Our recruitment was better under Mowbray, and some say that Hyam, Brittain and Szmodics weren't GB signings. So are GB and his team actually worse at finding and sourcing players, have they less real-world football connections, using just pure pass-completion data bollocks from excel spreadsheets, or has his "project" changed as well, and he's now working with his hands tied behind his back too, forced to scrape the bargain basement just to get bodies through the door? If that's the case I have sympathy for him, he has to front up and take it on the chin. He's got every right to be frustrated as we do but is trying to present a positive front, possibly just to save his job. Maybe that's the issue. If Gregg walked, I'd have a lot of respect for him.

Blimey. If Ennis scores... I can't even begin to imagine that happening or how it would feel if it did. "Shite" I can imagine. Can you imagine? I don't want to.

I hope McGuire's mum gives them hell. Hell hath no fury an' all that. I'm imagining her giving Waggott and co a right ticking off, proper handbag to the face job, while young Duncan is stood there in full kit clutching his happy meal from Clitheroe maccy d's.

I agree, but to go off-tangent a bit the one thing Ben did for almost all of his Rovers career was track back and defend like an animal at times, he did this when he was out of form as a bare minimum to get himself back into form, the mark of a good pro - work your arse off, get the crowd on your side, get confidence back and build from there. We've got players casually jogging back to their own penalty area. I get your point though, JDT saying he hasn't got the players, I agree with him in principle, we've sold and not replaced to the same standard, but they're showing all the hallmarks of every Rovers team down the ages who has lost the respect for the manager and the desire to grind results out. Getting serious Coyle and Ince flashbacks. We all know this squad is better than this, not as good as it should be and not good enough for JDT, but better.

Yes I totally mean this part, it felt like suicide as Siggy was caught in no-man's land more than once and we could have easily conceded two or three in that last 30 mins. He's not a covering full back.

Can somebody in the BE tell me what happened with Sammie as he walked off towards the end of the game? From my seat in the Riverside he looked really frustrated and I've read that comments were exchanged? He seemed to be disappointed with the bench at first but then seemed fairly amicable with JDT when he got back to the dugout. It was a weird one. He's obviously passionate and can easily show it, takes things personally, the way he walked off down the tunnel against Hudds was another one.

I thought Moran was again incredibly frustrating, he's obviously got some talent in there, but he's raw and young and is obviously playing the game plan as opposed to playing the actual game in front of him. Can be said for a lot of them, they're over-coached for me, they're just sticking to a one-dimensional system and they over commit forward to try and force something, leaving us light at the back and easy to pick off. Any criticism of Tronstad is unwarranted for me, the guy is playing almost as a one man midfield, and just by the law of averages everything has to go through him so he there's always the increased chance he will make mistakes. Ayari showed some promise, but was also too petulant and frustrated to keep a calm head when it was needed. His little clash with the imp Colback was just depressing all round. I'd like to call him something else but it's a family show. The whole team are constantly teetering on the edge of having any confidence. The style of football we're playing requires a quick move and a killer final pass, and when you have no confidence and are under-pressure, especially with the feeling in the ground, you play safe or take a touch and we're then slow and predictable. That to me sums it all up. How many times do we see the ball go back to the Hyam and Wharton, we see Gally making a run, or Siggy pull out wide into space, and no one picks them out - they can obviously see the run as there's a lot of apologising going on after, but no one wants to risk a long diagonal. The Ewood crowd don't mind an overhit forward pass, they do mind an overhit bobbling back pass to the keeper who then plays an even worse overhit pass back out square to the full back who's now under pressure - it gains the same result, albeit a throw-in to the opposition in our own half, as opposed to one down near their own corner flag. Big Sam's percentages again.

When we lost 1-0 to Stockport at home under Ray Harford, it was my first experience of a fanbase being unsettled, the fans were united in wanting the manager out, even as a kid you could see the issues clearly. You had confidence in John W and the board that they understood us, they were football people with a clear goal in mind, get Rovers competitive. Same with Brian Kidd and Hodgson, the board were our constant, you believed in them. You don't realise how much you take that for granted. This is a multi-faceted beast, the whole divide and conquer technique that we've seen in politics in recent times, get the populace confused and fighting amongst themselves and they can't mount a coherent challenge, apathy sets in and the process repeats. I am so confused. Like everyone I've got so many questions. I do like JDT, as many have said he's the right man at the wrong time. I was harsh towards him last week, it's easy to take his arrogance the wrong way, but after hearing about what happened in the summer, and him offering to stay here with his family and stick at it; he has my sympathy personally, but his tactics don't. I can't help thinking he's just managing us out of spite now, which is just plain toxic and if football is all about the fans as he rightly says, playing this attacking football with a demoralised squad is insane. His stubbornness is causing us problems. Going to 5 at the back with Siggurdsson as left back, or an absence of left back, against Huddersfield was pure insanity - any other manager in any normal club would be hounded out. Can they see it? What is Remi doing, is no one able to make a sensible, pragmatic footballing decision? Football is all about hope for me, it's what keeps you coming back. The biggest issue with JDT is he's actually had the temerity to give us this hope, some of the football has been the best we've seen, his charisma and his desire to treat the fans with respect, the attitude towards the cup is just one example, it's meant we've all believed in him, especially compared to the previous regime. But hand on heart, how many games have you seen that were actually good for the full 90mins, Sheff Utd at home, Leicester away, Swansea away? Is it purely down to the quality of the squad, or bad preparation of the opposition leading up to games and then bad in-game management? It's such a high risk style of football, when it comes off it's amazing but when it doesn't it's terrible. If he was a middling plodding manager and we'd been trudging away in mid table, no ups, no downs, no dalliances with the play offs, more draws and less highs, what would that be like? The issues with the transfers and financial side would remain though, and that's been the consistent part over the years regardless of who's in charge, whether we have a traditional setup or a DOF - whatever happens on the pitch can't cover for that. My head is torn in two directions and I can't handle it anymore, I just want to go to sleep and wake up when this season is over.

It's 100% incompetence and we're seeing two different camps pulling in different directions, two different goals working against each other, if you drew a Venn diagram between Venky's, the financial side versus JDT and GB on the footballing side, there'd be little crossover. "Versus" would be the right word too. Just look at the way the club communicates with the fans on any serious matter over the last 10 years, that tells you all you need to know, it's classless and without any love or care. I don't include JDT and GB in that, I think they're exempt from criticism in that regard. It's why United are struggling, doesn't matter what manager you have, if from the top down there's not a clear goal with everyone drawing in the same direction the issues bleed down from the top and disrupt everything. It's why Brentford and Brighton, and even clubs like Luton are enjoying success - everyone at the club knows their role and the feeling of confidence and belief resonates through the entire business. We are totally the opposite.

He will be, sounds like he's dug his heels in. If he has to stay, maybe he's going to carry on playing his brand of football as an attempt at saving his reputation (though relegation would surely be worse for it) and by also letting the media know he hasn't got the squad he asked for, as an easy-to-digest press friendly soundbite to cover up any tactical misgivings. "Rovers WERE willing to let Tomasson go after they decided to cut back on spending. But with a catch. However they demanded he would have to pay them the rest of his contract if he stepped into a new post." This is just madness if true, no wonder he's going to just ride it out, almost as an f*** you to the powers above, especially if he's moved his family over, schools etc. Can you imagine him giving them his own money to leave? It's crazy. I've got Danish family and friends in Finland, and they aren't afraid to "tell it like it is", a quality I love personally, and I think why fans on the whole have warmed to him. Putting a gag on JDT and trying to control him is probably one of the worst things you could do to the guy, just asking for trouble. He's a proper football man, a former winner at a high level, not a yes-man, and our CEO and organisation aren't, what did we expect. On the other hand, this stubbornness is destroying what happens in 90mins, so we're at a total stalemate. You can just tell that JDT is capable of a certain kind of behaviour, if his general demeanour is anything to go by, with added BC 😂:

holy shit this is a curveball maybe that's the real incentive for selling Wharton 😂

I think I just hate modern football I hate the owners, I hate the board and JDT is pissing me off on the footballing side, can I not have all three of them? It's possible to hold all opinions at once and not be considered a Venky's apologist. We live in such a polarised world.